# Cat taste buds

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-taste-buds/6810>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 4, 2000, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-taste-buds/6810 "2000-02-04T21:04:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![stoltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@stoltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stoltz)\
**Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-taste-buds/6810/1 "2000-02-04T21:04:00Z")

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Cats are notoriously meticulous; when they come across a turd they express disgust and try to bury it. The are also finicky and spurn food they don’t like. So how is that cats can lick their butts with no distasteful grimaces, but if the same thing were anywhere else they would be highly offended? Can cats “turn off” their taste buds when grooming themselves?

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**Author:** ![Diver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@Diver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diver)\
**Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-taste-buds/6810/2 "2000-02-04T21:20:00Z")

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Maybe for the same reason my farts don’t stink and yours are gross and disgusting!!  
An internal switch of some sort.

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**Author:** ![BunnyGirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@BunnyGirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BunnyGirl)\
**Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-taste-buds/6810/3 "2000-02-04T22:23:00Z")

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My cat likes to lick my hand after I work out (salty sweat) and it grosses out my husband cause he says, “eew, that’s the same tongue he licks his butt with.”

[sarcastic]Wow, by golly, I never thought of that before.[/sarcastic]

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**Author:** ![Nekosoft\_s\_Girlfriend](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cab0a1/32.png) [@Nekosoft\_s\_Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nekosoft_s_Girlfriend)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2000, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-taste-buds/6810/4 "2000-02-05T01:21:00Z")

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I think it’s the same principal that most people have with their children; you don’t mind changing your baby’s diaper, but if you see a dirty diaper laying on the street, it’s gross!